Roman announced in April that it had won the Queen's Award for International Trade and the company has just celebrated the award with all Roman staff. This ceremony was held at Roman headquarters where there was a presentation made by the Queen's representative, the Lord Lieutenant of County Durham, Sue Snowdon.

The Lord Lieutenant was formally welcomed by managing director David Osborne, before being given a tour of the showroom and the manufacturing plants, meeting members of the workforce along the way.

She gave a speech and presented David with the Queen's Award glass chalice. At a champagne buffet, David congratulated the staff on this exceptional achievement and presented each with a Queen's Award memorabilia mug. The award also coincided with David's 25th anniversary at Roman.

Roman was given the Queen's Award for International Trade as it had shown a substantial and sustained increase in export earnings over three consecutive 12 month periods, to a level which is deemed outstanding. The Queen's Award for Enterprise is the most prestigious corporate accolade that a UK business can win.

The Award is made on the advice of the Prime Minister after examination of applications by an advisory committee comprised of leading individuals from industry, commerce, trade unions and Government. The awards were conferred by her Majesty the Queen on her birthday - 21st April.

As part of the Queen's Award Roman was invited by the Queen to attend a winner's celebratory evening held at Buckingham Palace with the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Wessex, Countess of Wessex, Princess Royal and Duke of Kent.

"Our sustained investment, patience and belief over the last 10 years in developing our international markets has proved a great success and for this to be recognised in such a way is a very proud achievement," says David. "We have developed unique capabilities which have in turn created so many opportunities with major international hotel groups. We are thrilled to celebrate this fantastic achievement with all staff as everyone has played their part in winning the award."